Shivaleeka Oberoi is glad that so early in her career she has been able to play the complex part of Nargis Chaudhary in the Khuda Haafiz franchise. The actress who stars opposite Vidyut Jammwal is excited that Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2 - Agni Pariksha will release in theatres this Friday. In a chat with Bombay Times, she opens up about her film choices, recollects her days working as an assistant director and why her family wasn’t too keen on her pursuing a career in Bollywood. Excerpts:

Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 Agni Pariksha will showcase a new side of Nargis. In the previous part, people saw a girl-next-door who had to face difficult situations. Those situations changed her as a person. Now, you get to see Nargis 2. 0. This time around she is a warrior. It’s quite an intense role and it has been physically and mentally exhausting for me to play Nargis on screen.

It isn’t an easy character to play. You have to balance out her innocence with her strength, especially given the fact that she dealt with so much. It has changed me as a person in a lot of ways. It has really pushed me as an actor. I play a mother in the film, which is something that a lot of actresses refrain from doing at the beginning of their career. I wasn’t worried about it because it did justice to my character. Shooting with a child artiste is not easy as you have to make them feel comfortable. Also, my sister has twins and I have enjoyed being around them.

I am happy that challenging roles in content-driven films have come my way, now I am waiting for something massy and commercial to come my way. I want to do a romantic comedy, or a mushy romantic film. I am glad that at the start of my career I got moulded by people like Faruk Kabir sir and Vidyut Jammwal. During my stint as an assistant director, I got to learn so much from Salman Khan sir and Akshay Kumar sir. In fact, recently when I met them, they met me like we have known each other for years. I worked hard as an AD too. People think jo actors banne aate hai, woh as AD set pe kuch bhi kaam nahi karte. But that’s not true. I used to give the clap, call the actors when the set was ready and make call sheets. I learnt a lot about facing the camera, how lighting works on set and more

such details.

On the contrary, because of that, my family did not want me to pursue a career in showbiz. I could never meet my grandfather. My father was 16 years old when my grandfather passed away. My grandfather had produced just one film Sheba And Hercules (1967) and passed away while working on his second production. My father has seen my grandfather struggle as a producer. He has seen the kind of stress one goes through and the unpredictable nature of this business. My father was never into movies. My mother comes from an academic background and she wanted me to focus on my studies. My sister studied law and I was studying fashion design. There was an acting school close by and I wanted to join that out of curiosity. I convinced my mother to allow me to train as an actor and also started doing auditions. My mother gave me a window of two years to get a job as an actor, if I couldn’t do that I was supposed to pursue my masters. Luckily, things worked out for me, and here I am today.